The timber bordering the field I was hunting erupted with gobbles as I planted my decoys about 10 yards away before hopping into my ground blind. When legal shooting light arrived, I loaded a Victory VAP SS arrow tipped with a Rage Hypodermic onto my Mathews LIFT. A brief silence followed by slightly muffled gobbles meant that the two gobblers had floated to the forest floor. Would they stay in the timber or enter the field?
Suddenly, multiple dark puffs appeared about 200 yards away in the field. A few hens were joined by two jakes and two toms. The toms appeared to be fixated on the hens, while the jakes were seemingly tagging along. With my decoys plainly visible, I let their curiosity and possible dominance build. Soon, the flock had cut the distance to 100 yards, but the toms had no apparent interest in my decoys, until …
One of the jakes erratically broke off and beelined to my decoys. On arrival, he even hopped onto one of my hen decoys and awkwardly tried breeding it. The toms noticed and immediately came running in. As they approached the decoys, I picked out the tom on the left. My arrow flashed through his chest. That tom is one of dozens that I’ve bow-killed at less than 15 yards in the decoys over the last 20-some years.
There is nothing in turkey hunting like shooting a mature gobbler with a bow at point-blank range. If you’ve had minimal or even no success with decoying gobblers in that close, give the following considerations a whirl.
Go Authentic
If you’re having scant success with decoying turkeys, your decoys could be the problem. If they look fake to you, why would a gobbler forsake all commonsense and come running in with his beard swinging? If you’ve read a few of my many turkey hunting articles across several publications and websites over the years, you’ve probably read that I started out turkey hunting with cheap decoys and always struggled to get consistent encounters with toms.
In 2010, I purchased a Dave Smith Upright Hen decoy and immediately experienced better success. When I spent $165 a year or two later and purchased a Dave Smith 3/4 Strut Jake, my success literally skyrocketed. Those two decoys created the breakthrough I needed to pull toms in with unparalleled consistency. I’d say my response rate to those decoys, if a tom sees them, is at least 75 percent. I’ve since experimented with Avian-X decoys, and they, too, look incredibly lifelike. I’ve enjoyed similar success with them, including the hunt referenced in my opener.
If you price out Dave Smith and Avian-X decoys, they look like huge pills to swallow just for turkeys. However, you cannot argue with the results. I know other hunters who’ve switched, and their eyes were also opened to the difference. If you want to have tons of decoying success, use turkey decoys that look so real that they startle you when you look out your blind window.
Placement Details
Location is everything for decoy placement. It’s so easy to put decoys in poor spots when you hear a gobble and set up fast. Slow down and take an extra 10-20 seconds (if possible) to analyze where a tom will likely come from so you can set your decoys in the most visible location.
Since I almost always use a jake decoy, I want approaching gobblers to see it from a distance. I’ve found that it works best to give them a chance to size it up before committing rather than have them pop out 20 yards away from it and become startled.
To give your decoys maximum visibility, consider your surroundings. If you’re hunting on a field, look for the highest point. This is usually a great setup, and if you haven’t pre-scouted the property, it’s usually the best bet. From such locations, I’ve had birds see my decoys from up to 400 yards away and come on a string.
Setting up downhill from a bird or placing your decoys in a valley usually isn’t too good; it’s easy to lure turkeys uphill but not downhill. If you’re in the timber on flat ground, consider any trails or logging roads that turkeys might travel or look down. The idea is to make your decoys as visible as possible in the immediate area. If you encounter a tom, he has to see your decoys, or you cannot expect a shot opportunity to unfold.
Decoy distance is another factor. If you have the time, carefully pace out your ideal shot yardage from your blind. Several times I’ve set my decoys way too close to my blind while setting up in the inky pre-dawn lighting. The problem with setting them too close is the yardage likely doesn’t correspond with your top pin, and if you aim with the top pin anyway, you’ll hit low. I did this on a South Dakota tom in 2014.
I set my decoys only 4 yards away because it was dark and I was so preoccupied with not spooking the roosted birds. Thankfully, my arrow took out his drumsticks and he expired quickly, but I had been aiming for a middle-of-the-body lung shot. Lesson learned.
If you’re going to set the decoys ultra-close, practice at that range so you know where to aim in order for your arrow to strike home. Or, determine the closest distance that works with your 20-yard pin. I shoot a stout setup, and from 10-20 yards, there is little variance in impact. So, I usually set my decoys about 10 yards away. It’s a nice easy shot, but not too close.
A common blunder is setting up facing into the sun. Whether you’re sitting in a ground blind or not, always know where the sun will rise (morning hunts) and set (evening hunts). It’s almost always safe to set up facing north, but west is best for the morning, and east is best for the afternoons. If the sun is shining on you or into your blind, you’ll struggle to get drawn without being detected, plus the sun will make aiming nearly impossible.
I almost always put out a hen and jake decoy. A realistic jake, as I discussed earlier, just brings the toms running. However, particularly in pressured areas or in areas with lots of punky jakes, toms will avoid jake decoys. If this happens, especially if the gobbler(s) I’m hunting has (have) hens, I hunt the following morning with one or two hen decoys and ditch the jake. I’ve found that hens are more likely to come to hen decoys than a jake-and-hen combo, and bringing in the hens is the best chance to get a crack at a decoy-shy gobbler. If the hens trust the decoys, the tom often will, too.
Final Thoughts
I want to wrap this up with one parting point: While using decoys, especially on public lands, you’re doing so at your own risk. Remember, there are other hunters out there, including folks toting shotguns. Use commonsense with decoys, and in areas with lots of hunters, you might consider leaving the jake out of the mix. There isn’t a gobbler out there worth risking your life.
There is nothing novel about the tips outlined here, but I see a lot of hunters overlook them, and their success rates consequently suffer. To consistently bow-kill turkeys, you need to pull them in close. Decoys are the best way to bring birds to 10 yards for an easy shot, and the tips we’ve discussed will increase your odds for an encounter such as that.
Photos by Darron McDougal
